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“Don’t be. I brought it on myself.” It was difficult remembering that time in her life. She’d accepted responsibility for her actions, but that didn’t ease the guilt or the shame. “And now I’m concerned Gerry’s trying to hurt your job search. I don’t want you to go through what I went through.”
Troy crossed to his telephone beside the sofa. “I’ll talk to Gerry and tell him to stop trying to jeopardize my career.”
Andrea rushed to the phone before he could pick it up. She covered his broad hand with her own. His skin was warm to her touch. “Slow down, Troy. You can’t keep leaping before you look. We don’t have proof Gerry’s calling franchises.”
He looked at their hands together on the phone before raising his eyes to hers. “A reporter told you he was.”
His face was so close. She felt his heat. She wanted to stroke her hand over his impossibly sexy goatee. Smooth his furrowed brow. Cup his stubborn chin. “We have to verify his story. You can’t keep acting on impulse. I know you think everything will work out. But people don’t always bounce back that easily.”
He turned his hand over to take hold of hers. His touch was strong, firm, and a little rough. A working man’s hands on a desk jockey. Andrea shivered.
Troy straightened away from the phone and turned to her. “You said I can’t sit around hoping no one will pay attention to anything Gerry says.” His tone was low and husky, sliding into her system.
It was a struggle to stay in their conversation while their bodies were speaking a different language. “We need a plan, one that doesn’t involve further antagonizing your former boss.”
His ebony eyes twinkled at her. “OK. You work on that plan. I’ll work on another.”
He stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist. Andrea’s muscles trembled as Troy’s gaze slid from her eyes to her parted lips. Her breath caught as he lowered his head to hers. Slowly. He hesitated as though giving her time to back out of his embrace. His scent carried to her again. Warmth, citrus, and cinnamon. Andrea sighed. She lowered her eyelids and rose on her toes to meet his mouth.
His taste was intoxicating, full, and rich. It shot straight into her system and made her head spin. The thick, hard muscles of his chest moved beneath her palms. Her skin tingled as she slipped her hands up to grip his broad, sculpted shoulders. She held on tight as his lips moved over hers, sipping them, shaping them.
The feel of his lips. The taste of his mouth. The smell of his skin. She was dizzy. Andrea wrapped her arms around his neck and drew even closer to him, the only stable force in her shaking world. Troy tightened both of his arms around her. The feel of his hot, hard body pressed to hers made her nipples tighten. She gasped into his mouth.
Troy’s heart raced in his chest. He pressed his tongue between Andrea’s lips and deeper into her mouth. Sweet. She was so sweet. Her scent. Her taste. Her touc
h. He stroked his left palm down her slender back to her hips. His right palm cupped the side of her breast. The warm weight was precious in his hand. Almost since the day he’d met her more than three years ago, he’d wondered how the cool and captivating reporter would feel in his arms. She was sweet as a memory, soft as a dream.
He tested the weight of her breast in his palm. Andrea moaned softly. The sound added fuel to his desire. Troy deepened their kiss. Andrea met his tongue with her own, stroking and teasing him. She explored his mouth the way he wanted to explore her. Deeply. Thoroughly. Over and over again.
Troy brought his hands up to take Andrea’s blazer from her. She lowered her arms to help him. The material dropped to the floor in a muted swoosh. He tugged her thin, cotton blouse free of the waistband of her pants and slipped his right palm beneath her top to caress her warm, naked back. Her skin was smooth and firm. His muscles tightened with the need to touch more of her, to taste more of her. He cupped her bottom with his left hand, pressing her against him as he slid his right up her back. Troy palmed her breast inside her lacy bra. Her nipple grazed his hand.
Andrea’s body shivered in his embrace. She broke off their kiss. She arched her back, pressing her hips against his. Troy followed her, planting kisses along the long, elegant curve of her throat. He hesitated above the rise and fall of her breasts beneath her blouse before leaning in. He grazed her right nipple with his teeth through the fabric.
She gasped and pressed her small hands against his shoulders. “Troy, wait.”
His body protested, but he managed to pull away from her. “Too much?”
She swayed as she stepped back. “Too soon. I’m not ready. I’m not ready to lose control this way.”
Troy frowned his confusion. “What are you afraid will happen?”
She took another step away and another, then turned from him. “The last time I lost control, I ended up living in the street.”
He couldn’t understand her. His body was still heated. His mind was sluggish. “Are you afraid you’ll lose your job if we sleep together?”
“It’s not that.” She faced him as she tucked her blouse into her pants.
“I would never take advantage of you.”
“I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about me.” Andrea picked up her blazer from the floor.
He masked his sudden fear beneath a smile. “That sounds like a brush-off.”
She spun toward him. Her bright eyes were wide and surprised. “It’s not.” Three hurried strides brought her back to him. Andrea stroked his goatee. Her gentle touch soothed him. “It’s definitely not. I just need to move a little more slowly. Is that all right?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Thank you.” She kissed him, then turned away.
